Oh, the irony, the irony

Forgive me, Conrad and Coppola for riffing off Heart of Darkness/”Apocalypse Now”….
South Africa’s efforts against the coronavirus pandemic have been noted as “world class.”
United States federal government’s efforts?
Not so much.
The eloquent victims: 671,000-plus confirmed infected and close to 40,000 dead Americans. The United States host more than three percent of the global infected (2,158,250) and more than two percent of the global dead (145,533).
Six months ago, who’da thunk it?
Cosmic irony? Donald J Trump dismissing people from “sh**hole countries” not “like Norway”.

To some, even bad news is good news and no news is bad news. It isn’t news that Jared and Ivanka (Javanka) are clueless and self-centered.
So, what’s news? Not that Trump never learns from his mistakes. Nevertheless, it is mind-boggling that he learned nothing from his first round of impeachment. Legal minds, all greater than mine, plus uber-smart Neal Katyal  point out the Trump’s defunding of WHO is an impeachable offense. (Yesterday’s post discussed WHO in some detail).  Moreover, it’s the same category of offence that impeached him for his withholding funds from Ukraine.

Only 200 more days of Trump’s reign….

Former Republican Party members named on by-line of this Washington Post op-ed created the Lincoln Project to defeat Trump at November’s election. (FYI: George Conway is spouse to Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway.)
In the op-ed, the group states,

Publicly supporting a Democratic nominee for president is a first for all of us. We are in extraordinary time, and we have chosen to put country over party – and former VP Joe Biden is the candidate who we believe will do the same.

Steve Schmidt said on MSNBC last night,

The Republican Party that we all belong to, that we fought for, is dead. It’s a remnant of the past. It’s not coming back. It’s been utterly corrupted by Donald Trump and Trumpism and that is bad for the country… We’re in the middle of the defining event in American Life in our lifetime…. It will take an act of monumental leadership to pull this country back together, to unite it, to heal it, and to lead a recovery that will be difficult to come out of… Joe Biden is the guy to do it.

Note: I’d link to the op-ed, but the Washington Post has a paywall. It’s not Fake News but Natural Selection Due to Capitalism.
PS: I'm not sure  milquetoast Joe Biden is the guy to do it.  Hypersmart Elizabeth Warren could do it, but she's too scary smart - and too female - to too many Americans to be allowed the opportunity.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I’m impressed with how President Ramaphosa and his team of experts handle the growing pandemic. They deserve recognition for their “world class” levels of performance.
Perhaps efficient performance a la Ramaphosa et al, will trickle down, too.
South Africa’s state and provincial bureaucracies sorely need trickle down efficiency – and competence. So does my bank….
After four years of online banking and occassional use of the Instant Cash feature, suddenly I couldn’t use it to pay the gardener. Lockdown means the gardener shouldn’t have to depart his township and run the gauntlet of police roadblocks to and from his house to collect his pay. After several failed attempts, I used precious airtime funds to call the bank. I learned that my years of paying bills online hadn't happened, indeed, that I have no online payment rights.
Why? No one knows?
The outcome? The gardener must wait up to seven days for the bank to activate/reactivate my online payment rights. The 25-minute call consumed all my airtime. Since mine is the only phone in the house that works (more on that in an upcoming post), I must run the gauntlet of police roadblocks to purchase more airtime.
Is Kafka reaching for his pen from beyond his grave?

Goodbye Week 3, hello Week 4 of Lockdown.

Transition to the weekend with this photo of a “ladybug” (in US)/ “ladybird” (in SA) feeding on black aphids cultivated by ants on a young lemon tree.




Read Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3

You can’t make this stuff up

On top of all his miscommunication, false starts, repeated mistakes, false information, and butt-saving messaging, Donald J. Trump decided to delay, even further, mailing Americans coronavirus-related stimulus checks.
Why?
So checks can be printed with his name.
Twitter users ripped that action.
Then, as if punishing Americans wasn't enough, he went on to punish the whole damned planet: Trump Defunds World Health Organization In the Middle of a Global Pandemic
He attacked the WHO for its delayed response and unwillingness to confront China … without acknowledging that he’s guilty of the exact same things.

Week 2, Day 8 Friday April 3 post  suggested someone step up to Trump at a podium, switch off his mic, and escort him offstage. No one in his orbit is brave enough to do that. The US Constitution, however, provides a direct and effective measure: The Twenty-fifth Amendment (Amendment XXV).

Amendment XXV summarized: If the President becomes unable/unfit to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President becomes the President. This can happen for a short while, if the President is sick or disabled …or permanently.

Sticking point?
Congress determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.
Right now, the House of Representatives is majority Democrat while the Senate is majority Republican. Republicans support Trump, no matter what. This means more hopeless partisan division and inaction… while humans die by the thousands.
Postscript: Concerned Americans frown with consternation at VP Pence becoming P.
I’ve frowned, too. Mr. Pence showed little ability as governor of Indiana to make decisions based on peoples’ health needs and currently shows particularly sycophantic obeisance to Trump.
I’m certain he’d dump the obeisance and jump at a chance at the presidency. He’d do better than Trump in that role – at least through the end of this disastrous administration. (That I’d ever suggest Pence step into the presidential role shows the level of Trump-induced calamity.)
As long as no one in government implements the amendment, Americans will continue to die while Trump hogs the mic.
Roman Emperor Nero, meanwhile, grins with delight: finally, history will ignore his fiddling while Rome burned. Donald J Trump has become history’s biggest bungler.

Lockdown works in South Africa

Hooray for South African leaders taking control of the pandemic.
Monday April 13’s “public engagement with experts” Prof Abdul Karim, SA Health Ministry’s Zweli Mkhize, and others laid out strategies to confront South Africa’s coronavirus challenges.
The first five to seven minutes of MP Mkhize’s introduction covered the latest numbers - tests, confirmed infections, deaths - and how numbers are generated. Except for 15-minutes of bad audio for two call-in experts, the conference (more than two hours long) was informative and a pleasure to watch. Great going South Africans!
Prof Karim’s take-aways regarding personal protection, in order of importance:
1) Wash hands
2) Social distancing
3) If you wear a mask – non-medical, cotton masks are fine for laypeople - remove it very carefully. Touching inside the mask could distribute virus and contaminate. Disinfect in hot water.

Webinars to the rescue!

Courtesy Zapiro. click to enlarge.

Days dragging by?
Daily Maverick’s Webinars make lockdown more bearable.
Link and listen to yesterday’s Climate Crisis in the time of Covid-19 webinar, with Mary Robinson and Kumi Naidoo, hosted by Rebecca Davis.

Link and listen to today's Covid-19: The Status of the Pandemic in Lockdown Week 3.
Maverick Citizen Editor Mark Heywood with health experts Professor Wolfgang Preiser and Dr Indira Govender.
Takeaways:

• high confidence that SA’s confirmed numbers of infections are accurate BUT it’s about who gets tested and when testing occurs.
• To avoid overwhelming the health systems, SA is going to have to create parallel health services specifically for Covid-19 – or risk infecting non Covid-19 cases with the virus. (It hasn’t hit the rural areas – yet!)

Trajectory of the virus in South Africa:
Prof Preiser: there will have to be measured relaxation of lockdown rules; we’re behind the curve with the worst yet to come; some habits will have to change for good.
Dr Govender: this is long term challenge with no return to “normal”… we can’t go back to overcrowding … and we need contingency plans to quickly contain Covid-19 hot spots as they crop up.

Sign up for tomorrow's webinars, Thursday 16 April at 12 pm. FutureNow: Face the Covid Reset. Daily Maverick Associate Editor Ferial Haffajee in conversation with John Sanei discusses life after the Covid-19 pandemic.  Register here  (If you register then miss the live webinar, you’ll be emailed a link to watch later.)

***

Word from the urban streets

A domestic worker required emergency dental care at a Pietermaritzburg clinic, 22kms away. She departed early, traveled in a public taxi, and passed through roadblocks by indicating her swollen jaw.
Coincidentally, her sister passed through a different roadblock early in the day and on foot. She was detained and spent hours sheltering from the rain in a police vehicle. She was released, unharmed, at 4pm, the beginning of afternoon commute.

Meanwhile back at the ranch…

Risking police roadblocks in this small rural neighborhood, I stepped outside the gate today: my first walk in 18 days. I delivered to elderly neighbors masks my mother had sewed. How to make a mask
It was déjà vu all over again. The same dogs barked in the same gardens – passing the chore of barking to the set of dogs in the next garden as I passed. The same glorious plants bloomed. Few neighbors in sight.
Last year, a friend and I walked regularly in the neighborhood. Then a pair of young thugs hijacked, assaulted, and robbed my friend's elderly husband as he walked. He recovered but we lost our nerve.


Read Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3